soul

George Clinton (born July 22, 1941) is an American musician, widely considered one of the forefathers of funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and was a solo funk artist as of 1981. He was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina, grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey, and currently resides in Tallahassee, Florida. In Plainfield, he ran a barber salon, where he straightened hair, and soon formed a doo wop group, inspired by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, called The Parliaments.

Maceo Parker (born February 14, 1943) is a noted African-American funk and soul jazz saxophone player, best known for his contributions to James Brown's distinct sound. He was born in Kinston, North Carolina in a musically-rich environment. His mother and father sang in a church and both his brothers are accomplished musicians (drums and trombones). He and his brother, Melvin Parker, joined James Brown in 1964; in his book Brown says that he originally wanted Melvin as his drummer but agreed to take Maceo under his wing as part of the deal.

"the fingers malone ensemble" is the production and stage name of Colin O'Reilly, a musician, composer and producer from Fingal Head, Australia. He is now based in London. He is best known for his production and drumming for 'The Winnie Coopers' (Australian hip hop band) and, more recently, his drumming and MPC playing for Ash Grunwald (Australian blues artist). His solo work is varied and ranges from live jazz arangements to fully programmed hip hop style beats. Although much of the work sounds like samples almost no samples are used.

Fitz & the Tantrums are an American soul group from Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by Michael Fitzpatrick, who had begun writing soul music for a solo project on an old church organ he had purchased. He added friend James King to the group as an arranger and soon after expanded the band to a seven-piece, including several horns. Fitzpatrick shares the vocal duties with Noelle Scaggs. Other members include Joseph Karnes, Jeremy Ruzumna, and John Wicks.